house of dark delights / bound in moonlight by louisa burton
Horny and immortal. Druids for pimps. Lucky humans. =P
If something is so well written that it lures me in to an actual interest in the characters’ lives, loves, and luck, it shouldn’t be a guilty secret now, should it? House of Dark Delights shelters delights not just of the carnal nature but also in the way words are woven and the characters are fleshed out. Nestled deep in the French countryside stands a castle that has for centuries lured guests with erotic promises. The chateau’s residents are immortal creatures who live to satisfy the desires of others—and their own. A Nordic elf and Babylonian succubus in love with each other but who must find other partners to feed their hunger, a lusty satyr who’s been the
subject of numerous paintings and sculptures, and a djinn who just wants to be left alone with his books but who is obliged to satisfy the unspoken appetites of any human who touches him—they are beautiful and seductive and strangely helpless. In every encounter, there is sensuality, magic, and mystery. Sex is pleasure but also something more. The guests findspeace, redemption, and deliverance, willingly or inadvertently. The story goes back and forth from encounters centuries ago, when they were still hunted, to the present, where the chateau owner must find a psychically gifted bride or else the Druid line that protects the immortals will die. In Bound in Moonlight, the sequel, this issue is still unresolved.
2009 Reads: Best High, Worst Fix
I attend an addiction support group meeting every month, only the group supports the addiction not quitting. First in the 12-step program is to pick our best and worst reads for 2009, which we are then supposed to share with the group in a praise and bash fest, scheduled on January 23 at (venue TBA).Which two do you think will win the honors?
January
1. The Book of the Dead – Douglas Preston / Lincoln Child
2. The Wheel of Darkness – Douglas Preston / Lincoln Child
3. Grave Sight – Charlaine Harris
4. Grave Surprise – Charlaine Harris
5. An Ice-Cold Grave – Charlaine Harris
February
6.Twilight - Stephenie Meyer
7. Dark Prince – Christine Feehan
8. Never Confuse a Memo with Reality – Richard A Moran
9. Love Story – Erich Segal
10. New Moon – Stephenie Meyer
11. The Ghost and the Femme Fatale - Alice Kimberly
12. Journal: The Short Life and Mysterious Death of Amy Zoe Mason – Joyce Atkinson, Kristine Atkinson
March
13. An Artist of the Floating World – Kazuo Ishiguro
14. Ghosts in the Snow - Tamara Siler Jones
April
15. Gabriel Knight: Sins of the Fathers – Jane Jensen
16. Akibakada - Lyndon Gregorio
17. Para kay B – Ricky Lee
May
18. A Great and Terrible Beauty – Libba Bray
19. Code Name: High Pockets – Edna Bautista Binkowski
June
20. Defending Angels – Mary Stanton
21. Jim Henson’s Return to Labyrinth – Jake T Forbes, Chris Lie, Kouyu Shurei
22. Labyrinth II The Lands Beyond – Judith Agrathea
23. Sins & Shadows – Lyn Benedict
24. Wraith - Phaedra Weldon
25. Solstice Wood – Patricia A. Mckillip
25. Met by Moonlight – Rosemary Edgehill
27. Darkfever - Karen Moning (reread)
28. Bloodfever - Karen Marie Moning
29. Jim Henson’s Return to Labyrinth vol2 – Jake T Forbes, Chris Lie, Kouyu Shurei
30. Jim Henson’s Return to Labyrinth vol3 – Jake T Forbes, Chris Lie, Kouyu Shurei
July
31. General Winston’s Daughter – Sharon Shinn
32. Mystic and Rider – Sharon Shinn
33. Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews (reread)
34. Magic Burns – Ilona Andrews (reread)
35. Magic Strikes – Ilona Andrews
36. A Flash of Hex – Jess Battis
37. Vicious Circle – Linda Robertson
38. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
39. Creepers - David Morrell
August
40. Greywalker - Kat Richardson
41. Poltergeist - Kat Richardson
42. Skinny Bitch – Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
September
43. Underground - Kat Richardson
44. The Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
45. Unclean Spirits – MLN Hanover
46. Must Love Hellhounds – Charlaine Harris, Nalini Singh, Ilona Andrews, and Meljean Brook
47. Perfume - Patrick Suskind
48. And Then He Kissed Her – Laura Lee Ghurke
49. The Scent of Shadows: The First Sign of the Zodiac - Vicki Pettersson
50. Trese: Murder on Balete Drive – Budjette Tan and KaJo Kajo Baldisimo
51. Trese: Unreported Murders – Budjette Tan and KaJo Kajo Baldisimo
October
52. Highlander’s Touch – Karen Marie Moning
53. Tapestry - Lynn Kurland, Karen Marie Moning, Madeline Hunter, Sherrilyn Kenyon
54. Callwork - Hazel Manzano
55. Touched by Light – Catherine Spangler
56. 284 Common Mistakes in English made by Pinoys – Elizabeth P Ong
November
57. Like a Charm – Candace Havens
58. B2B: How to Build a Profitable E Commerce Strategy – Michael J. Cunningham
59. House of Dark Delights – Louisa Burton
60. Bound in Moonlight – Louisa Burton
December
61. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen
62. Prospero’s Children – Jan Siegel
63. Trese Mass Murders – Budjette Tan and KaJo Baldisimo
64. Sign of the Four – Arthur Conan Doyle
65. Glass Books of the Dream Stealers – Gordon Dahlquist
like a charm by candace havens
The librarian sees dead people.
Kira Smythe used to be a high-powered lawyer, who suffers a breakdown from witnessing the suicide of one of her clients. She reluctantly returns to hometown Sweet in Texas to recuperate from the shock and illness, inheriting the position of town librarian upon the death of the previous one. In the huge, Gothic-like library, she starts to see and hear things that are not quite of this world. Fortunately, she has Caleb, a journalist who drops into town every now and then, to turn to for comfort and more-than-friendship.
Though a far second to the romance between Kira and Caleb, the mystery of the library (is it haunted or is Kira just hearing voices?) and her stalker (why does he want to hurt her? Who is he?) is enough to keep the story from being too fluffy. The lists at the end of each chapter (Favorite Pastries, Five things I like about Sweet, Pros and Cons of Dating Caleb, etc.) is charming but serve more as layout decoration than anything else, I think.
Out of place somewhat in this very normal seeming small town are witches, casually mentioned a few times throughout the book. Is it just my lack of background information (apparently Like a Charm is the fourth book in a series, where each book features a heroine with a unique magical dilemma) or is there a disconnect between the ordinary and extraordinary in this book? Because if witches were so ordinary, why are the ideas of ghosts and mediums so out-of-this-world for Kira? Maybe the logic of this universe just failed to catch up beyond the third book?
touched by light by catherine spangler
They did a lot of detective work.
The romance was average and mystery was so-so. But then I wasn’t looking for a spectacular read, just a light one, which this book adequately is. Math professor Julia resists gravity long enough that she actually enjoys a getting-to-know-you process with a reincarnated Atlantean, Adam, who is also the head of a race of superhumans tasked to protect mankind from the followers of Belial. Caught between two groups of good Atlanteans and bad Atlanteans, Julia has little choice but to use her psychic ability to enhance Adam’s power of detection. That this process involves sexual energy and that an enormous amount needs to be expended to achieve minuscule results are quite beside the point.
Don’t we just love these obvious plot devices? They make things so much simpler.
TRESE: mass murders by budjette tan and kaJo baldisimo
Mass Murders in Cubao, Mandaluyong, Fort Bonifacio, Malate, and Muntinlupa… Poor doggies…
The third volume of the popular graphic novel series based on Filipino folklore goes back in time to expand on Alexandra Trese’s origins as well as that of the dagger-wielder’s powerful sidekicks, the Kambal (the Twins). Gorier and edgier, TRESE (13) also finally introduces Anton, Alexandra’s father who died protecting her as she went through the 12 trials, a rite of passage for any aspiring mandirigmang-babaylan (warrior-priestess). For details and more of my impressions on the series, read my previous Trese posts here and here. With this volume, I am satisfied that the series has achieved a neat tie-up to story lines spun from previous volumes, yet apprehensive over the ability of succeeding volumes to live up to the awesome action of Mass Murders (the conclusion was also rather hilarious, a tribute to gaming madness). New premises—the fate of Alexandra’s brothers; her fate; the lost three years, and the ambiguity of her role as mediator between human society and the Underground or as conqueror-destroyer of either world—promise a bigger and more explosive finale or the proverbial carrot on a stick. I hope it’s the later, as I like the idea of an open-ended story. That way the story never ends.
Oh, and in Exhibit 13, my favorite is by Melvin Arciaga.
And, darn it, there goes the binding. VISPRINT, use better glue!!! Or readers will be saying next that someone in your printing press is cheating on the books by using paste for good-quality glue!
prospero’s children by jan siegel
Zohran was as evil as Alison was broken, but only one was real to me.
For almost 8 years, Prospero’s Children languished on my shelves. Too old for a fantasy for young adults, too young to give it up altogether, I let it gather dust, until a few months ago, when my inner fantastic flared up again, a case of psychic hives probably from all the angst of an adult trying to live up to a professional world.
Now I wonder, how much more affected I would have been had I read it when I was younger, when I was more in love with my inner worlds than I was with wordly promises. The author’s prose was wonderful, but so rich that I was at risk several times of hyperventilating from all the beauty, and the story vast and terrifying, singing of magic and lost love.
“There was no sound but the waves breaking and behind that, like a distant harmony too complex, or too simple, for the ear to comprehend, came the rumor of an immeasurable universe: the murmuring of infinite waters and the susurration of a billion icy fires. It seemed to her that even the air smelled of stars…”
The story began in Atlantis, or it returns to Atlantis. Fernanda, 16 years old and sensible, together with younger brother Will, a mysterious hermit, and protective wolf, finds the key to go back in time. The past holds the secret to a power that even gods covet. But this power could destroy the universe, so even glimpses of lost Atlantis is forbidden. Not even the most powerful or most innocent can succeed—but what if evil and goodness somehow become allies?
The first half of the book is set in present-day England and the other over 10000 years ago, at the height of Atlantis’s madness. A broken-hearted witch for our time, and a mad queen for Atlantis. Even if all roads lead to Atlantis, the magic for me was far more powerful with the flawed characters that converged in Fern’s Yorkshire home. When I finally reached Atlantis with Fern, I found the city and inhabitants to be less than legends make them out to be. I wished that I remained in the here and now.
Nevertheless, I am glad that I am a third into exorcising a series that has haunted me for years. The next books are The Dragon Charmer and The Witch Queen (aka Witch’s Honour), which follow Fern years after the events of Prospero’s Children. I’ll probably let months pass before I continue with the series as I need time to recover from such unforgettable fancies.
perfume by patrick suskind
Bog him, and these virgins. Maybe if they practiced a little more hygiene…
In 18th-century France, there lived a human monster, whose lack of personal smell equated to lack of humanity. In a time where stench was at its most vile and fragrance was at its most sublime, Jean-Babtiste Grenouille, born of an infanticide-happy fishmonger, was nobody. So shocked was he at his invisibility and so greedy was he for smell that he murdered virgins for their scent. Upon succeeding to create the ultimate perfume, he orchestrated an orgy, made the parents of his victims fall in love with him, and served himself up for a cannibal feast.
My sense of smell did not improve while reading this book, but my imagination of scent flowered from the overflowing words, like seeing wavy lines from a cartoon surface, and wilted from the shocking denouement that told me, love at its most passionate brings indigestion. But was he really a monster?
To the author, maybe. To me, Grenouille was amoral, a genius, and not particularly bright. Suskind’s attempts at brainwashing was captivating though.
TRESE unreported murders by budjette tan and kajo baldisimo
Alexandra Trese won’t make it in Alaska, if she needs to wear a trench coat in sweltering Manila. But, hey, I can relate… style before comfort.
In Trese, Manila is a black-and-white world, sheltering all sorts of things that go bump in the night. If there’s something strange in the 
neighborhood, who are you going to call? Not Ghostbusters, they’re loud and clumsy. In the cracks of reality in Manila’s underbelly, a deft touch, favored by compromise, backed up by much firepower, is needed.
The second volume in Trese’s saga, Unreported Murders offers more of the bizarre, yet almost believable tales involving crimes committed by or against the Philippines’s creatures of lower mythology, the kind that fears the light, that are drawn instead to sewers and the city’s forgotten spaces. Urban legends are given life, shape, and form, as part of us, contributing to society in their own big and little ways.
“Beware the criminals that can’t be bound with handcuffs nor harmed with bullets.”
Truly, to read this book is to be taken to familiar places—Mother Ignacia in Quezon City, the cemetery along Kalayaan street in Makati, the big malls in Ortigas, and a posh subdivision near Rockwell—transformed into the other side of the mirror where we refuse to look too closely for fear of encountering our own dark souls. Unfortunately, the city is peopled by certain beings, the manananggal (human-like creature whose upper body separates from his/her lower extremity, sprouting bat-like wings at night; preys on pregnant women), duwende (gnomes), tiyanak (souls of aborted fetuses turned malevolent) and laman-lupa (earth elementals), who are only too willing to turn our dreams into reality, for a kiss, a song, or a curse.
Encounters sometimes end in death, or worse.
Each episode, or case, begins with a map, a strangely frightening one indicating the scene of the crime by a few lines only slightly visible from the blackness of the rest of the page. As each case progresses, we get to have a better feel for Alexandra, and her way of doing her job. In the previous volume, I immediately noticed that all is not well between psychic dad, Anton, and daughter. I have an idea that while dad is super honest and straight, the daughter is less rigid, preferring to play with the dark side and make deals with its creatures. We’ll probably know more about their relationship in the third (and last?) volume.
And just like in volume 1, the cases are quite unforgiving of slip-ups, even by deeply cherished archetypes and pop culture icons who somehow got entangled in the machinations of the underworld. Showbiz stars, high profile doctors, department-store scions, elite-village residents—they are not the untouchables of Manila; they are the weakest link keeping humanity together against these otherworldly forces.
There are some unforgettable characters in this volume: Case 5’s poor dead duwende,who can give Simon Cowell a run for his money, paid for his lack of good judgment with his life, betrayed by his talent’s attachment to fame and glory. The lizard guy, who used to skulk in ladies’ dressing rooms at Robinson’s Mall (changed to Robertson’s Mall in the book), turns out to be an internet geek, and is now online buddies with one his victims.
Sad to say, case 8 left me with the strongest impression, not because it was the strongest story, but because, in the aftermath of Ondoy’s and Pepeng’s fury, I can only view it as prophetic, a threat made terrifyingly true. As I see it, there were hundreds of unreported murders recently. But the murderers weren’t Ondoy and Pepeng.
—–
Trese is a graphics novel, written in English.
TRESE murder on balete drive by budjette tan and kajo baldisimo
Armanaz, Armazan… He’s still a tikbalang living in a penthouse suite.
Where life and light should be are only shadows and grey lines. The map of Trese’s Metro Manila contains no details. All I know is that I am in there somewhere, living my ordinary life, and they are there as well, loving and hating, the same us us, side by side with us, however hard we pretend they are not there. And sometimes, out of passion or greed, they commit crimes.
Who do I call for paranormal help then?
With a concept as striking as this, who would fail to pick up this latest work of genius from a dynamic Filipino duo, Budjette Tan and Kajo Baldisimo? Especially now that the country’s publishing industry is struggling mightily to stay afloat, I can only be overjoyed to encounter innovative concepts take form.
A graphic novel, Trese follows the cases of paranormal investigator Alexandra Trese as she takes on the mantle of psychic dad. The first case is a double-dead mystery, a hit-and-run of a white lady, ghost of a wronged woman who appears to motorists, causing them to swerve and crash. Trese investigates how a ghost could die again, and who would wish to murder her.
In this volume, the first, four cases are featured, dark tales full of tears and violence, drawing heavily on Filipino folklore. The nuno (a little old man) does not live in the punso (ant hill) anymore; it has made another home in a manhole, peering out from under the heavy metal cover to dispense tips for Trese. Aswangs (humans who transform into animals to eat the flesh of babies) hole up at the pier, planning their next kidnapping spree. In the tallest building in the metropolis is the headquarters of the city’s most powerful business tycoon, a tikbalang (a giant, with the face and hooves of a horse) who controls his empire through human underlings. Trese is assisted by the Kambal (twins), creatures of indeterminate paranormal origins, who wear the two masks of man—happy and sad—while in combat. And, engkantos, sentient spirits of nature, are everywhere, assuming human forms to play with humanity’s weaknesses, challenge our strengths, and offer us our dreams—for a price.
With no colors to soften the violence of the drama that plays out in Manila’s underbelly, reading Trese is a visceral experience. The lines are starkly drawn, and there are no clear boundaries between frames. For good or ill, the denizens of the dark live among us, having as much right to be here as we do—and they play no favorites… Case 4 is a case in point.
………………..
Trese is written in English, with only a few Tagalog terms for uniquely Filipino phenomena or mythological beings. I imagine a non-Filipino reader would find it very interesting, yet startling.
pride and prejudice by jane austen
with 2 comments
In a Jane Austen Universe, the Flippers met one Saturday, 21 November 2009 for tea and scones at Raul Roco Garden. Pride and Prejudice was the subject of their gossip.
To make any such get-together a success, characters are important—those discussing and being discussed. From the talk boards, one can already get a feel that Flippers are no insipid characters afraid to voice opinions and ask provocative questions. In Pride and Prejudice, we found a wealth of interesting characters, whose strict rules of engagement made for a fun puzzle for us book club members. Jane Austen herself was an enigma: attractive, smart, fun-loving, with and extremely astute understanding of human nature and behavior, yet strangely aloof from the attentions of the gentlemen of her time. Her works dwelt much—critically, lovingly, cynically… you decide—on the pursuit of wives and husbands, yet Austen remained single until her death at age 41.
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife… Is it romantic or otherwise?” – Mod Fantaghiro23 begins the discussion.
But I am getting ahead of the narrative. From start to finish, the FFP Jane Austen Day bore all the elements of a Regency social outing. I arrived at a little past 12 at the Petron gas station next to La Vista gate along Katipunan and met with Fantaghiro, Marie, Ajie, Don Tads, Czar, Fredda, and GnP. Minus Don Tads and GnP (who had to beg off from attending the discussion because of family affairs—though GnP made sure to share with us how he found Pride and Prejuidce a trial to read. There was all that talking, I think I heard him say. “They never get to the point!” was more or less his sentiment, I recall.) we made our way to Antipolo in Czar’s and Fantaghiro’s cars.
At the Raul Roco Garden in Maogmanglugar, Antipolo, Lizzie Bennet welcomed us and offered us refreshments in a shady spot… Ah, wait, it was just Marie in a full Regency regalia. She had on a white empire-waist summer dress, and her hair was held up by a wide headband. I was so envious!
Islandhopper also had a touch of Regency, a flamboyant one, on her. She was wearing this black flowery clip, the kind that ladies wore to balls. She was at the garden an hour earlier so she can have time to lay out a sumptuous Regency table (think tea, scones, tea sandwiches, fish croquettes, and stuffed tomatoes, all arranged on dainty cups, china, and silverware) in readiness for our not-so Regency appetite.
Sabin Figaro and Psaz-lady had also arrived before us. Soon, Jan and Oel joined us (Jan also sported a feathery hair accent piece). Islandhopper introduced us to Jeeves: our fly in the wall with a camera, he said. We walked deeper into an almost-English Garden towards a Japanese-inspired pavilion. Imagine this setting: flowers and greenery, bamboo fountains, fresh air, the sound of books fluttering, the air of eager minds getting ready to confide, clash, and compromise.
Before us was a sunken table. On the table were our copies of Pride and Prejudice and, of course, our plates of food. At almost 3pm, Fantaghiro officially began the book club’s Pride and Prejudice discussion.
Highlights
For me, whether we now live in a Jane Austen Universe or not is immaterial. For that Saturday, we Flippers were in a world of our own, thinking, talking, eating Jane Austen. Whether Pride and Prejudice is a social satire, not a romance, girls still swoon at just the thought of Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. Much juicy dialogue may have been left out and Lizzie and Darcy may be the model of restraint and civilized conduct on the outside, but behind closed doors…? Oh my, my imagination is working overtime. That’s romance enough for me =P.
By the way, the Raul Roco Garden was a heavenly place, perfect for weddings, parties, corporate activities… Kulang lang ng lights sa gabi.
Written by artseblis
December 26, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Posted in classic
Tagged with classic literature, historical romance, jane austen, pride and prejudice, romance novel, social commentary, social novel